22.12.17

2G scam: No one guilty

A special court acquitted former telecom minister A Raja, DMK lawmaker Kanimozhi, Essar group vice-chairman Ravi Kant Ruia, Swan Telecom promoter Shahid Balwa, Unitech managing director Sanjay Chandra, ex-telecom secretary Siddharth Behura and 12 others in the 2G scam, which had rocked the telecom industry in 2011and was key to the previous government’s defeat three years later, saying that the charges had not been proven.

“I have absolutely no hesitation in holding that the prosecution has miserably failed to prove any charge against any of the accused made in its well-choreographed charge sheet,” said judge OP Saini, who has been dealing exclusively with 2G spectrum scam cases. “There is no evidence on the record produced before the court indicating any criminality.”

The charges related to application deadlines, manipulation of the first come, first served policy, allocation of spectrum to dual-technology applicants, ignoring the ineligibility of Swan Telecom and Unitech group companies, non-revision of entry fees and the transfer of ₹200 crore to Kalaignar TV as bribes. Saini decided three cases on Thursday, two filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation and one by the Enforcement Directorate, in judgements that were about 2,200 pages long all told.

Referring specifically to Raja, Saini said there was no material on record to show that he was the “mother lode of conspiracy in the instant case. There is also no evidence of his no-holds-barred immersion in any wrongdoing, conspiracy or corruption.”

CBI and ED said they will appeal the Thursday verdict in a higher court.

The 2G scam came to haunt the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, which couldn’t shake off the taint of corruption as it got embroiled in various other scandals.

Street protests evolved into an anti-corruption movement that gave rise to the Aam Aadmi Party. Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party were able to harness the widespread public disgust and turn it into a powerful campaign plank to defeat the UPA and ride to power in 2014.

CBI had alleged that the government lost Rs.30,984 crore after the telecom department under Raja allotted 122 licences bundled with startup spectrum in 2008 at prices determined in 2001, or Rs.1,658 crore. Before that, the Comptroller and Auditor General had estimated the loss to the exchequer at Rs.1.76 lakh crore.

Saini suggested that the figures involved were highly inflated.

“On account of the various actions and inactions of the officials… nobody believed the version of DoT and a huge scam was seen by everyone where there was none. These factors compelled people to conjecture about a big scam,” Saini said. “Thus, some people created a scam by artfully arranging a few selected facts and exaggerating things beyond recognition to astronomical levels.”

The Supreme Court had scrapped those 122 licences in 2012, saying that the first-come, first-served basis of spectrum allotment in 2008 had been faulty. That led to the exit of foreign telecom giants Etisalat and eventually Sistema and Telenor.

The former telecom minister said the accusations against him were bogus. “I brought a revolution in the telecom sector. It is not unknown in history that a person who did revolution is tainted as a criminal,” said Raja, adding that the presumptive loss to the exchequer “which formed the basis of the conspiracy theorists to run amok, was cooked up.”

Directors of Kusegaon Fruits and Vegetables Pvt Ltd Asif Balwa and Rajiv Agarwal, Kalaignar TV director Sharad Kumar and Bollywood producer Karim Morani were also acquitted. These companies were accused of being the conduits for the alleged bribes paid to Raja.

The probe agency had also alleged that Raja had taken bribes, routed through Kalaignar TV run by Kanimozhi, and colluded with bureaucrats and officials of companies to subvert the first-come, first-served process of allocating spectrum to favour companies such as Reliance Telecom, Swan Telecom and Unitech Wireless. CBI had alleged that Reliance Telecom had used Swan as a front company to garner airwaves in 2008. All the companies have been acquitted.

Saini faulted the first-come, first served policy of allotting airwaves. “The policy of first-come, first-served was not clear, definite and explicit and left room for misinterpretation. It is clear that the policy was not a result of well thought-out process and was meant only for limited and staggered applicants,” Saini said.

The Congress and DMK hailed the verdict. “We respect the court’s judgement. I am glad that the court has pronounced unambiguously that all these massive propaganda that has been (on) against the UPA was without any foundation,” former prime minister Manmohan Singh said. “The judgement speaks for itself.”

Congress leader and former telecom minister Kapil Sibal, who succeeded Raja after the DMK leader was forced to resign due to the 2G scam, sought an apology from the BJP.

“They (the BJP) must apologise as they attacked the (then) prime minister and the Congress in the Lok Sabha as well as in the Rajya Sabha. Today’s verdict clears the then government position as vindicated,” Sibal said. He had said at the time that the spectrum allocation had caused “zero loss” to the government.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley hit back at the Congress.

“Its history is of corruption — facts have proven it. Congress leaders are treating the judgement like a badge of honour and certification that the 2G spectrum allocation policy was an honest policy,” he said. “(There is) huge arbitration element in spectrum allocation. First-come, first-served policy was only for a few. Each spectrum allocation was quashed by Supreme Court.”

Raja and Kanimozhi, who had spent 15 and six months in jail, respectively, were expectedly relieved after the verdict. “The last seven years have not been easy for me. You have been accused for something that you have not done. This means a lot to my party, DMK,” said Kanimozhi. A combative Raja said he will come down “heavily” on those who have been instrumental in all the “wrong that has been done”.

Saini pulled up the CBI for what he characterised as a shoddy job and criticised the DoT and some of its officials for the “mess” that had been created.

“Neither any investigator nor any prosecutor was willing to take any responsibility for what was being filed or said in the court,” said Saini.

He said the fate of the case had depended upon witnesses belonging to DoT and the companies of the accused.

“The witnesses from DoT were either highly guarded, and if I may say so, hesitant, in their deposition, and also went against official record rendering themselves unreliable,” Saini said. “Witnesses from the companies of the accused also did not support the prosecution version.”

He did however name two officials who weren’t among the accused in the verdict. He said it wasn’t Raja, but “Pulok Chatterjee, in consultation with Sh TKA Nair”, who had “suppressed the most relevant and controversial part of the letter of Sh A Raja from the then Hon’ble prime minister.”

No comments:

MONEY MUSINGZ

MONEY MUSINGZ

Lok Sabha Polls 2019

Search This Blog

Twenty22

Twenty22 stands for the year 2022 when India will be 75 years old.The story of a young and energetic nation on the move,having her foundation in an ancient civilisation.From a glorious past to a glorious future.Our flag's Orange colour symbolizes courage and sacrifice, White stands for peace and truth, Green is for faith and chivalry and Blue represents the color of the sky and the ocean. The central motif is a Chakra, or Buddhist spinning wheel. The 24 spokes of the wheel correspond with the 24 hours of the day, implying that there is life in movement and death in stagnation.

A Scrapbook chronicling the magic of the present moment as the Winds of Change sweeps across INDIA,BHARAT,HINDUSTAN-The World's Largest Democracy.The Making of India which hopefully will have heartwarming stories of growth and development... on the lines of Chicken Soup for the Soul..ooops..err Rasam for the Hindustani Aatma. Jai Hind.

Disclaimer:Most of the information has been obtained by reading various newspapers / magazines , watching television and browsing through various websites.Pictures and Articles used are for informative and illustrative purposes only and their copyright belongs to their respective owners.Some of the popular sources of information are:The Times of India,Indian Express,Hindustan Times,DNA,Mint,The Economic Times,Financial Express,Business Standard,Hindu Business Line,Business World,NDTV,Times Now,CNN IBN,CNBC TV18,Aaj Tak,Zee News...